A/N – Somehow the bottom note on my last chapter got cut off! The hiccup cure in Chapter Three can be found on the eMedicine website. I don't know whether it really works. But…it's just weird enough for the Doctor.

Again, many many thanks to my kind reviewers. I'm so happy to get such nice notes from people whose stories I've enjoyed so much!

Sorry I didn't get this up sooner; work ended up being a bit busy! Long chapter for you this time to make up for it.

I know, I have to say it again. Still don't own any of it. Credit to G.O. Warren for the quote from the poem "The Storm." Look it up and tell me whether you think it fits the Doctor and Rose.

Hold On To Life

By Lariel Romeniel

Chapter Four – The Way You Look Tonight

Of course he knew she wouldn't be ready in only an hour. He'd traveled with too many females, human and otherwise, not to know that preparing for a formal ball was not the work of just sixty minutes.

So he was not surprised when he finally heard her light footfalls behind him some twenty minutes after the appointed time. "Sorry I'm late," she said softly. He turned and smiled in wonder and delight.

By Rassilon, she was beautiful! The TARDIS had presented her with a Grecian style gown of spun gold. The bodice clung to her curves to the waist, covering enough for Traken's sensibilities but revealing just enough to make his mouth go dry. Her full, sweeping skirt was made of layers of golden organza that shimmered in the dim lighting of the console room. More of the same stuff was wrapped around her shoulders.

Gold. For months now he'd associated that color with death, with fear, with the Bad Wolf. But from now on, when he thought of gold, he'd think of this moment.

She'd put her hair up, leaving the nape of her neck deliciously exposed save for a few stray strands. But there was more. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on. He cocked his head as he tried to figure it out.

She looked worried at his expression. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no," he shook his head. "You're just... so different! Wonderfully different." So beautiful. It made his hearts ache, but he hid it with a bright smile."The TARDIS wardrobe did very well by you! What about those sensible shoes?"

She hitched up some layers of organza to poke a foot out. She was wearing flat Grecian sandals that complimented the dress perfectly. "Can walk and dance anywhere with these!" she said with a smile, and then he realized what else was different.

"Rose, you changed your makeup!" She'd toned down the heavy mascara and eyeliner, and the natural blush that was now spreading over her cheeks was prettier than anything that came out of a compact. She looked downward and stammered, "I thought…" she trailed off. He lifted her chin and said sincerely, "I like it. Very much. You don't need all of that…stuff. Tonight you outshine Helen of Troy."

Her blush grew deeper. He quirked an eyebrow up. "I mean it! And I should know. I met her! Now there was a woman who needed lots of makeup. But cosmetics back in 1194 BC…"

"But I thought she had the face that launched a thousand ships?" Rose interrupted. The question made both his eyebrows shoot up.

"You probably also think that Operation Iraqi Freedom really was about weapons of mass destruction! Rose, it's a universal fact. For every stupid war there's an equally stupid cover story!" He shook his head again and stepped back from her. "Enough of that. Now tell me. Does this meet with your approval?"

She giggled as he struck a pose. His find in the wardrobe room had been a tuxedo with black cutaway coat, charcoal pinstriped pants, a golden vest, and a gold and black paisley cravat over a starched white shirt. He'd almost passed it by to look for something else, but the TARDIS seemed to be insistent on this particular choice, shuffling the contents of the wardrobe rack in order to keep presenting just this outfit.

Seeing Rose, he now knew why the TARDIS pushed that choice. Together the two of them would make quite a picture. "So, what do you think? Am I still foxy?" He winked at her and she snickered again.

"Listen to you, fishing for compliments!"

He strutted like a runway model, holding his hand out as if he was grasping something imaginary. "And I've still got the net out, Rose! So what do you say, hmm? Am I going to catch something?"

She eyed him critically. "Well….you're wearing dress shoes for once," she noted. He picked one foot up to let her inspect the patent leather. "Shiny." She slowly circled around him. "You've got your hair under control; that backcombing thing is working. You can carry off that coat. Most men can't. And those colors are good. We match!" He preened as she stopped in front of him. "I think you'll do."

His face fell. "Is that all? I'll do?"

She smiled and stood on tiptoe, reaching upwards to pull his head down so she could whisper in his ear, "You'll do devastating things to every unattached female there. So you'd better remember that you're supposed to be my fiancé…darling."

He grinned madly as she stepped back. "Oh, I will, dearest. And you remember that my name while we're here is 'John Smith.'"

She looked at him coquettishly. "What say I just call you 'darling' all night?"

He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Works for me!" He offered his arm to her. "Shall we be off then?"

They ambled out the TARDIS doors and back down along the footpath in comfortable silence, walking through lengthening shadows. "Lovely evening," the Doctor said as they arrived at the vista point over the lake. "Look at that sunset! The particulate activity in Traken's atmosphere must be stupendous!" He stopped and looked down at his companion. "What?"

Rose had given him a pained look. "Doc-" she caught herself as he cocked his head at her, "Darling, only you could look at a gorgeous sunset and turn it into a science lesson!"

He smiled a little. "Is this better? 'She reached for sunset fires, and lived with the stars and the sea,'" he quoted.

"That part of a poem?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Shakespeare?" He chuckled a little. "No, Rose. Something by an American poet. It always intrigued me. I'll find it for you when we get back to the TARDIS, if you'd like."

"Never really thought of you being into poetry," she said as they began to walk on.

"Nine hundred years, Rose," he answered. "Time enough to do an awful lot of reading. And a little writing, although nothing very good. Better at the poet look than actual poetry. In my eighth life I had a little bit of a Lord Byron thing going, without the debauchery of course. Rose Tyler, you're going to get the hiccups again!"

Her lips had been quirking up in a grin throughout his rambling. But at the word "debauchery" she had stopped short and doubled over with laughter. "It's all right, Doc-darling," she gasped out. "I know the magic hiccup cure now."

"Rose, dearest, doing things like that with your tongue, when you're dressed like that.."

She looked at him with mischievous eyes. "What?"

He was a bit discomfited. "Well, it's not exactly dignified."

Her eyes widened and she began laughing again. "Says the man who licks everything in sight!" Again she struggled for control, taking deep breaths that stretched the bodice of her gown in very distracting ways. "Debauchery!" she giggled, and he stopped resisting. He began to laugh with her.

"Mind out of the gutter, Rose Tyler!" he chortled. And that goes double for you, Time Lord! "I'm beginning to think Captain Jack corrupted you!"

The mention of Jack suddenly sobered them both. "We'll see him again," the Doctor assured her softly. "When he's done with what he needs to do. Ah, here we are."

He remembered this place, the quarters of Consul Tremas and his daughter. He reached up and rapped on the heavy knocker.

The door was opened by a teenaged girl with strawberry blond hair. "You must be the visitors Tremas was expecting," she said. "I am Kassia. Please come in. Tremas and Larana are waiting."

The Doctor wore a bemused expression as he followed the girl into the living room. The same Kassia? Interesting.

Tremas welcomed them with a wide smile. "This is going to be a wonderful evening, John Smith and Rose! May I present my wife Larana?"

Nyssa had looked nothing like her father. But this woman…Nyssa's mother…was almost her mirror image. Some small differences. Larana of Traken was a bit more slender, the curls of her hair a bit softer. And while Nyssa had been pale, Larana was ghostly.

She sat in a red armchair, arrayed like a queen in burgundy velvet, much like Nyssa had frequently worn. And the Doctor recognized the ornament in her hair; Nyssa would wear it someday. Nyssa herself was on the floor, playing with a doll.

The Doctor bowed, a slight bend of the shoulders. "Lady Larana," he said. "May I present my fiancée, Rose."

Rose made a little curtsy. Larana inclined her head toward them both. "Welcome to you both. My husband was most excited about meeting you earlier today, despite the circumstances," she smiled a little, "and we are both pleased to have you as our guests. Cousin Kassia, would you please take Nyssa? It's time for us to leave. It will not do for my husband to be late to his own installation ball."

"Tremas!" the Doctor exclaimed. "You didn't mention that you were being installed as a Consul!"

Tremas flushed. "It is an honor I am still amazed to have received, John Smith."

"But well-deserved, I'm sure!" the Doctor replied enthusiastically. "Well, well, this is going to be quite an evening. You see, Rose? I promised you all the best seats at the best parties."

"That you did, darling," Rose answered. "Thank you for inviting us, Tremas."

"My pleasure," Tremas replied, extending an arm toward Rose. "And now it's my pleasure to introduce you to one of our customs. Lady Rose, I will escort you into the ball. John Smith, would you please do us the honor of being escort to Larana?"

"Of course," the Doctor answered, surrendering Rose to Tremas. He stretched a hand out."Lady Larana?"

She took it and levered herself upwards, making a great effort for a woman so slight. The Doctor's eyes flickered in concern for a moment. Then she smiled and took his arm. "Thank you, John Smith."

They left the house, Kassia trailing behind them with Nyssa in her arms. The Doctor glanced back at her. "Isn't Nyssa a little young for a ball?"

Larana smiled. "She comes only to share in the Blessing of the Keeper, John Smith. Then Kassia will bring her home again."

"I see. Larana, you can just call me John." She looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Two names. John Smith. You don't have to use them both. Just call me John."

"Now I see," Larana answered. "You look the same as we do, but you are really very different, are you not? You must have traveled a long way to visit Traken."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, a long way. We left a long long time ago from a galaxy far far away….Just an expression, Larana!"

"I see."

Just ahead of them, Tremas was pointing out the first faint stars to Rose. "It was quite a sunset we had this evening, too."

"We saw it," Rose answered. "John says you must have some stupendous particular…particle…"

"Particulate?" Tremas asked with a grin. "Yes, we do have stupendous particulate activity in our atmosphere. So, your intended is a man of science?"

"Yeah, he is. I'm rubbish at it but I'm trying to learn." Rose shrugged a little. "He's very patient with me about it. And always teaching me new things as we travel."

Tremas gazed at her wisely. "Your love runs very deep. I could tell that when I first saw the two of you sitting there at the park."

"He's not like anyone else I've ever known. And he's made me a better person." She blushed. "Sorry. I shouldn't be talking about me. This is your big night."

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, Lady Rose. Love like that is something for others to envy. Too often my people are afraid to show any depth of feeling. You two are very refreshing. That's why I wanted you to be my guests. Show these stuffy aristocrats a bit of warmth. Now, we've arrived. A little instruction for you both, since you are strangers to our world," Tremas said, turning back to the Doctor. "We will be announced by the Foster Initiates and garlanded. Then while my family and I go to prepare for the Keeper's Blessing, the two of you will present yourselves to him."

They walked through a towering archway, Tremas and Rose leading, the Doctor and Larana following, with Kassia and Nyssa just behind. On just the other side of the arch was a wide stone staircase, leading down to a crowded courtyard. Tremas brought them up to a young dark haired boy in white. "Initiate Neman, this is my guest, the Lady Rose. My wife is escorted by our other guest, John Smith. And you already know Larana's cousin Kassia and my Nyssa."

Neman nodded and turned to face the crowd. He didn't notice that the Doctor's eyes had briefly widened in recognition. "Consul-Nominate Tremas, with the Lady Rose," he called loudly. "The Lady Larana, with John Smith. The Lady Kassia, with the Lady Nyssa."

Tremas, Rose, the Doctor and Larana walked down the stairs abreast, to be met by four young girls carrying flower garlands. After the flowers were placed around their necks, Tremas bowed to the Doctor and held Rose's hand out to him. Catching on quickly, the Doctor returned the bow and offered Larana's hand.

Like dancers, the two couples changed partners. With a smile and a nod, Tremas took his family off to prepare for the next ceremony. The Doctor grinned and tucked Rose's arm through his. "Well, dearest, are you ready to go meet the Keeper?"

She smiled up at him. "Oh, yeah."

"Please be more polite to him than you were to Queen Victoria," he murmured as they approached the Keeper's glass and gold enclosure. Inside was a wizened man seated in a golden chair. The gates of the enclosure swung open.

"Enter, John Smith and Lady Rose," said the Keeper of Traken. They walked through the gates. The Doctor bowed low, following his lead, Rose curtsied deeply.

The gates swung closed. The Keeper fixed the Doctor with a keen gaze. "John Smith, you are not what you would have us believe, are you?"

The Doctor looked up with a stunned expression. The Keeper was shaking his head sagely. "No, not at all what you would have us believe. You are more. But what does that mean for Traken?"

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A/N I hope that will hold you all for a few days! The family and I are off to the mountains for the 4th of July holiday, and I don't expect to have internet access. But I do plan to keep working on this and have more to post when we get back!